Modern Day

I pressed my nose to the tinted-window of the Belle Morte car and tried to work out where Ysanne was taking us. Ten minutes ago, she'd called me into her office, along with Roux and Jason, and told us that there was something she wanted to show us. Now we were in a car, heading away from the mansion, but none of us had a clue where we were going. When Roux had asked, Ysanne had told her to wait and see.

Ysanne herself sat in the front passenger seat, her back as straight as ever, her hands neatly folded in her lap. I didn't think I'd ever seen someone sit in a car with such poise.

I glanced at my friends.

Next to me, Jason was sending a cat video to Gideon, smiling as he did it. Roux was turned away from us, looking out of the window, but maybe she sensed me looking at her, for she turned to meet my gaze. Her ruby nose-stud flashed under the streetlights that we passed.

I tilted my head, trying to silently convey how confused I was, and Roux shrugged.

There was no point asking Ysanne – she'd already told us to wait, and she wouldn't appreciate being asked again.

After about ten minutes, the car turned left, passing through a barrier of metal fencing and arriving onto a massive dirt lot.

Now I was really confused.

"Oookay," Jason said under his breath.

Our driver – a Belle Morte security guard whose name I couldn't remember – got out so he could open Ysanne's door, then ours.

I climbed out of the car, feeling a light breeze tease my hair. The ground around us looked like it had been freshly turned, and it was marred here and there by enormous tyre tracks. Gras softened the edges of the lot, and trees loomed here and there, like silent sentries.

"Where are we?" I asked.

Ysanne surveyed the lot. She was still wearing high heels, and I hid a smile. The world itself could be coming to an end, and Ysanne would face it with a cool stare and killer stilettos.

"This is where I intend to build a new vampire house," Ysanne announced.

Roux froze.

Jason blinked.

My mouth dropped open.

For the longest moment no one said anything. Ysanne watched us, patiently waiting for a reaction.

"Wait," I said, something clicking into place in my brain. "Is this for the kids?"

A few months ago, Ysanne had mentioned the possibility of the nine vampire kids currently living in Lamia being given their very own house, but it hadn't come up since, so I hadn't been sure it was still on the table. I should have realised that Ysanne was busily working away in the background, getting things done without anyone knowing.

"It is," Ysanne confirmed.

I looked at the space with fresh eyes, but sadly I wasn't creative enough to picture what the new house might look like. All I saw was a big patch of dirt.

"Have you already started work on it?" Roux asked, eyeing the tyre tracks.

Ysanne shook her head. "The plot was sold to a developer three years ago, but due to financial issues, he was only recently able to start on what he hoped would be a new housing estate. Unfortunately for him, those financial troubles became exponentially worse four months ago, forcing him to sell off the plot."

"Bad for him, good for us," Jason murmured.

"Quite."

I took a few steps forward, my feet leaving small imprints in the dirt. "Why have you brought us out here? It can't just be to show off the plot, or you'd have brought the guys too."

Edmond would have told me if he'd already seen this, and if Ysanne was showing me before him, then something else was going on.

Ysanne gazed around the plot. "Can you imagine what this house might look like?"

"No," I admitted.

Roux and Jason stayed quiet. Like me, they'd probably guessed there was more to this than Ysanne showing off her latest purchase.

"I can," Ysanne said. "And that's a problem."

I frowned. Okay, that wasn't what I'd expected.

"The point of giving these children their own space is that none of our existing vampire houses were built with them in mind. They need something that is." Ysanne paused, lifted her chin a little. "Unfortunately, I must confess that I do not understand modern children. I don't know what they like, and I don't know what they're used to. If I build them a house, then it will be another Belle Morte, and clearly that's not what they need."

Understanding dawned. "You want us to help."

"To help design the house?" Jason said.

"Not to design it, per se. To recommend how to modernise it," Ysanne said.

"Why not ask the kids themselves what they want?" Roux asked.

"Because they are still children, and it's crucial that they understand that they won't be in charge here," Ysanne said.

I wondered if that was all there was to it. It was a very Ysanne thing to say, but part of me couldn't help wondering if she also didn't trust the kids not to take advantage of her and make unreasonable requests.

"The donors who come and go through our doors can help familiarise us with certain aspects of the modern world, but I can't relate to these children in any capacity. We are from entirely different worlds," Ysanne said. "They need to be happy in their new home, and I don't know how to give them that."

Ysanne rarely made admissions like these, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Roux smile fondly at her.

"Let's start with the obvious. Give them a cinema room like ours," I said.

The Belle Morte extension had only recently been completed, and sometimes I still couldn't quite believe it was there.

"I assume they shall require television sets in their bedrooms, as you all have done," Ysanne said.

"Yeah. They collectively need space away from the older vampires, but sometimes they'll need space away from each other," I said.

"A gym would be good, too," Jason, giving Ysanne an arch look.

Ever since the cinema room had been built, he'd been pestering her to add a gym to the house, both because he thought the donors would appreciate it, and because he'd prefer to do his own workouts inside the house, rather than having to travel into the city to do it. I thought he had a point, but so far Ysanne was less than convinced.

"The children won't be having donors. There's no need for a gym," Ysanne said, giving Jason a look of her own.

"How will they feed?" Roux asked.

"Bagged blood will be provided for them."

"Are they okay with that?" I asked. I knew from experience that bagged blood really wasn't the same as fresh from the vein.

"Current donors don't wish to feed the children because of the erotic qualities of a vampire's bite. I can understand that," Ysanne said.

I could too. I still felt sorry for them.

"How about a swimming pool, then?" Jason said.

"That's a possibility," Ysanne said.

"I think you should still give them spaces for art and music and reading, like you do in Belle Morte. Those things are timeless and they can be appreciated by people from any generation," Roux said.

Ysanne nodded. She looked to me.

"Maybe a games room? Darts? Pool? Something like that?" I suggested. "Hell, maybe even a bowling alley. How big will this house be, anyway?"

Belle Morte was vast, built to house the twenty vampires and thirty donors who'd once been there, as well as allowing space for human security and staff to move freely. But there were only nine vampire kids, and if they weren't having donors, then they wouldn't need as much space.

"I don't know yet. Blueprints will be drawn up once I know what needs to be included," Ysanne said.

"It's really good that you're doing this for them," I told her.

Ysanne looked pensive, gazing again around the dirt lot. "It's my responsibility," she said.

I felt a pang in my chest. She wouldn't often show it, but I still didn't think Ysanne had forgiven herself for being fooled by Etienne. He'd murdered my sister under Ysanne's nose, had sneaked out of Belle Morte to build a vampire army, and in doing so, had given immortality to the worst kind of monster – a predator who'd used his new life to go after kids. None of us had seen through Etienne's act, and none of us believed that Etienne himself was aware of who Roger DeSanti had really been. He'd done a lot of terrible things, but I suspected that even he would have recoiled at knowing that DeSanti had abducted and turned kids. But in many ways, Ysanne felt all this more than the rest of us. She was the one who had pulled vampires out of the shadows all those years ago. She had helped put in place the rules that Etienne had rebelled again. She had failed to stop him, and I had the feeling she would carry the weight of that for a long time.

If she was anyone else, I would have hugged her, but by now I knew her well enough to know she wouldn't appreciate it now.

"How far from Belle Morte are we?" Jason asked.

"Five miles. I thought it prudent to keep the children within arm's reach, while still giving them enough space that they don't feel like they're living next door to us," Ysanne said.

"Do they know any of this yet?"

"No. I was rather hoping you would tell them."

"Me?" Jason said.

"They seem to respond well to you."

Jason looked at Roux, then me. I shrugged.

Roux and Ludovic had been the ones to actually rescue the kids from the basement where DeSanti had imprisoned them, but they'd been out of their minds with hunger then. I doubted they remembered much of their rescue, and Roux didn't seem to mind that some of the kids had attached themselves more to Jason than her.

"Okay. When?" Jason asked.

"Not yet. I'd like work on their house to be underway before we tell them," Ysanne said.

"Right," said Roux, clapping her hands together. "We can stand around here making vague suggestions about what to include, or we can go home and start brainstorming some serious plans. Now we've seen the size of the plot, we know what we're working with."

"Good idea," Jason said.

We headed back to the car where our driver patiently waited. After everyone else had climbed in, I glanced back at the sprawling plot of land. I still couldn't picture what this new house would look like, but one thing I did know.

A new chapter in the vampire world was about to start.

A/N: It's one month since Belle Morte finally arrived on bookshelves, and I just want to say a massive thank you to my amazing readers. You guys have supported this story and this world every step of the way, and I love you for it :) :)